My Trip to Uzbekistan

I was advised by a few people before I left for Uzbekistan. Most of the advice was false advice. To me it was great time to have self reflection which I had forgotten while living in America, and after the trip realized I Americans almost always have strange ideas about other people and cultures. Maybe we are very strange to others instead. Here is my experience.

When I arrived Tashkent airport from Istanbul, I was already tired out and very hungry. After 17 hours flying to Tashkent, changing airlines three times, and not enough sleeping and eating, I also needed to deal with frustration at customs where I was asked to wait a minute. An hour later when I asked an officer if something was going on, he told me again “one minute.” Approximately a half hour later I asked him again, then he took my passport and disappeared. When he returned I was finally able to go, but by the time I was released I was the last person in customs. There was no communication with the outside while I was waiting for customs to clear. I did not feel very positive about what would happen when I visited Russia five days later.

It was 12:05am when I met other delegates outside the airport. They told me that no one could help us and no guides were waiting for us, and we could not communicate with people around us because of language. I could only hear taxi drivers asking us, taxi? We could not call or text to anyone anywhere. Just waiting and waiting. I didn’t know how long I had been waiting when finally we got a few guides who took us to the Tashkent hotel right next to Amir Temur Square. Of course the hotel restaurant was not open yet and grocery stores were not open that early. We were asked to sleep on a chair or couch in the lobby because soon we would take the train to Fergana. We had plenty of bottled water but no food. I wasn’t able to sleep so decided to spend the time texting to family and friends while WiFi was available.

In the morning we arrived at Tashkent train station, and before going through the security check, I looked around to see if any store was open and couldn’t find one. My last hope was if I could find a restaurant on the train. I settled in my room with three other delegates. I looked outside of the train to see peaceful rocky mountain and very few trees in the valley. When too much dust came in I asked another delegate to close the window, and then when inside got hot I asked them to open the window. We did not have air conditioning so we handled the inside temperature by opening and closing the window and door.

I hoped to find a restaurant on the train for breakfast and coffee. While I was walking around the train from car to car, I tried to explain through my body language that I did not have dinner or breakfast. They tilted their heads to the side and looked at me, talking to each other and telling me something could not understand at first, then listening to me more, and it seemed like they understood and waved their hands meaning NO. I decided to sleep in my room but again was not able to sleep because of jet lag. While I was tossing and turning, two middle age men knocked at my bedroom door even though it was opened. One man asked me to join them for breakfast. He held an aluminum bowl in one hand and the other hand held a spoon, and he mimicked eating something out of the bowl. I followed them to the entry of a train car where there was a cooking place with charcoal. I could smell cooked potatoes. It was a great small and it made me feel even more hungry, but I couldn’t eat because the bowl and spoon were not clean. I told them it’s okay and went back to my room.  

Then I soon had another visitor; she said she could speak English if I needed help. I explained to her our people did not have dinner or breakfast and we must travel five more hours to Fergana so I am worried. She left but later came back with a plastic bag with something inside. She opened it up and pulled out a large piece of bread, boiled eggs and some apples to the table. It was totally unexpected. I asked the other delegates to join the breakfast. 

I remember when Professor Jong Kim visited Champaign from Khazakhstan and told me one of his favorite foods is bread because of the excellent taste and great smell. They have very rich soils in Central Asia. While thinking of his comments, I removed a piece of bread and I took in the smells, a pleasant aroma. I had a little bite. It was sweet, nutty and sour. I did not know it was great because I was hungry. All the others told me it smells so good and we all had a great breakfast. It was a large enough to share with four people and I kept some of it in my bag to eat whenever I needed it.

In my conversation, I found out this woman was Muslim. She did not wear a hijab and freely communicated with other men. Two men who were asking me to have the potato breakfast were also Muslim. In fact, 80% of the population there is Muslim. It reminded me of my birth town, a very small community in the valley which shared food with all neighbors in the 1960’s. Sharing food is very normal every weekend in the Jicarilla Apache reservation in northern New Mexico too. We are strongly educating Americans to be individuals, be alone and independent, not contingent or depending on something else. But we are all interdependent too—for example fish comes from seamen, grains come from farmers, etc. We are sharing and they, the people in Uzbekistan, are sharing in a different way. One evening in the hotel I had asked questions to a few translators about this country and compared their economics and way of living, and I understood more about them. They make 36 times less income than Americans per capita, but they are very happy people and know how to share not only food but also their family story and many others. Here in the USA nobody would be handing out food and sharing their family stories to strangers or visitors.

My train trip was to the World Martial Arts Festival in Fergana, where I met so many college students who were translators from Fergana University. My translator, Aisha Sultankhnova, was majoring the English Philology. She took me to the traditional market where I changed US dollars to Uzbeckstan money called Sum. I changed $100.00 and they gave me 7800,00 Sum. I purchased one t-shirt, an iphone charger and sleeper and most of my money was gone. While I was walking around the traditional market, I met many men and women business people who wanted to take a pictures with me and other visitors. They were not able to speak English but surprisingly some of them spoke Korean.  After shopping, Aisha and I went to a local cafe and I heard about her study, family and Uzbekistan. 

The festival was very successful. We had 15,000 spectators for the opening ceremony in the stadium. Our team performed two times during the opening ceremony and one in the theater. At the end I received a beautiful Uzbeck traditional man's robe. It is a quilted robe worn outside of clothes. The neckline has colorful strips braided, believed to protect from the evil power. They also gave me an Uzbek cap but it is too small so I just display it in my home. The most important gift was that I met several people during the Festival who were incredibly kind to all visitors. If I go back to this country, I hope I can meet them again. My trip started with tiredness, hunger and frustration, and because of people in Fergana I was able to end my trip with pleasure. 

A trip to Russia

A Trip to Russia

I grew up with Tchaikovsky’s music, such as the 1812 Overture, Italy Capriccio, Piano Concerto #1 etc. In particular, the 1812 Overture; my brother told me a story behind this music. Napoleon brought a half million of soldiers over the Alps mountains to Moscow and only one hundred thousand lsurvived. To celebrate this victory, Tchaikovsky composed this music. When I listened to this music often I hoped to see and hear this overture when they a real canon with orchestra. I did this at the Ravinia Music Festival in Highland Park. Now I wanted to listen to this music in Moscow after a tour so it could be more realistic for the music. Also I wanted take The Siberian Express train to Vladivostok over 7 days. While I was planning I heard that The World Martial Festival would be held in Uzbekistan. Now I was confused: which one should come first? I decided to visit Russia after the festival. 

I went to Tashkent airport for my next plan: touring Moscow and 7 days of crossing Russia from Moscow to Vladivostok. I was excited, but anxiety was deep inside: what could happen and what would I do in case something happened? While I was thinking and planning, I heard that the Turkish Air plane to Moscow would be delayed. Late that night Turkish Air employees took everyone to a hotel, and on the way to the hotel I saw people speaking in loud voices but I had had no idea what they were screaming for, so I took a video and sent to an Uzbekistan friend who responded back saying, “Move to the front.” When I arrived at the hotel, I went to a restaurant and after the meal took a shower and was ready to sleep. But the front desk called me to prepare to leave the hotel for the airport soon. Ten hours later I arrived in Moscow and stood in a very long line to get through customs. One officer who was in the box office stood up, looked at the line, and asked the people to line up straight by moving her right hand side to side and then checking if the line was straight by turning her head to the side and looking, and when the line was straight, she took care of one person and then stood up checking the line again. She did it every time after she took care of one person. I thought to myself, I am in the country once controlled by communists and it still feels like they are alive. 

I arrived at the hotel in the morning and checked in after breakfast and left for the Red Square by taxi. I visited a gift shop where I purchased a soccer ball hat. They just had a World Cup game. From the shop I looked to the left side and saw St. Basil’s cathedral, one of the most popular symbols of this country. Located right next to the Kremlin, the shape of the building is like flames of many candles fires. There were incredible colors around the nine chapels in the middle of Red Square, which is now a museum. I took several pictures of the Virgin in the moat and Jesus, symbols of unifying power for the people.

When I tried to buy a ticket to the Kremlin, I found it was already sold out and had to visit the next day.

The entry of the Kremlin is a Baroque style stairway. Many people were waiting to enter, moving very slowly, and a man who controlled the entry often halted the line and made the front people clear on, and then allowed the line to move on. One time I heard English from behind saying, “Oh my god the whole Chinese population is here.” I looked at him. I smiled and looked around. Many Chinese were going upstairs and trying to enter. As soon as I passed the gate there were the smells of food. Not far from the gate there was a food truck. I bought a bottle of water as I passed the truck and I saw a very bright gold color of a few domes. It was Cathedral of the Dormition which was completed in 1479. These domes were pasted with a large amount of small rectangular plates. When you see from afar from it looks like one piece of sheet metal but looking closer I could see it. It was a wooden church in the 12th century and replaced by a limestone around 1326. 

Inside the cathedral there were art works displayed on pillars, walls and ceiling. Most of the color had fade away but they still look great, and any art work on bronze plates were very clear. I pulled out my cellphone and immediately one lady said something to me. She had earphones on, and I told her that I didn’t understand. She told me don’t take pictures! I moved to the other room and my cellphone was still in my hand. I heard again, no pictures. I went out and walking towards the Cathedral of the Annunciation and I took a few pictures from outside because the other tourists were all busy taking the pictures of this church. Inside there was a large pray room and a few galleries but I was not able to take any pictures. 

Three young men ran into me. I was under arrest!

I was walking toward the exit I knew it was not far away from the river on my left side. The street toward the exit was wide open; on the right side was a walking path and the left side was open. I walked on the left side and saw three young people speaking loudly and running toward me. I told them I did not understand what you were saying, then one started speaking English asking me why I was walking on this side and asking me to hand over my cellphone. I said why? Another man told me that he was going to arrest me. I asked him why? Instead of answering my question, he ordered a man to take my phone and delete all my pictures. I told him he should not do that and two men held my arms. I moved both arms, pushing down, and then immediately pushed up and freed myself from them. The man who had my cellphone now asked for my passport. I pulled it out immediately from the side pocket of my shoulder bag. He looked at the passport and said “exit is this way.” I looked at where he pointed his finger and saw one gate guard waiving hand asking me to come. I was released! Walking toward gate, I wondered what was all that about, why did this happen? Was it because I was walking on the wrong side? Or if they thought I took pictures in the cathedrals, then why did they release me after they saw my passport. Did they think I was Chinese? Was it because the Chinese copied the Kremlin in Beijing? I was not able to figure it out.

Now I headed to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was built after the retreat of Napoleon in 1812. Also Tchaikovsky’s famous overture 1812 was composed to celebrate the victory. Inside the center of the dome building was a large painting on the ceiling. A god sending his son to the earth. A god in human image, his son with wings, descending. It looks very primitive but I thought it was a very pure idea. All over the inside were paintings and ornaments, all very colorful

After the Christ of the Savior Cathedral, I went to the Tchaikovsky concert hall and discovered they didn’t open until September. So I found a restaurant right next to the concert hall and while I was having dinner I listened to the 1812 Overture with earphones. There are so many people restaurant but it was very quiet with the earphones on, and most of time I could not hear because of the overture music. After dinner and music, I took a taxi to the hotel and prepared to take the Siberian Express train. 

I once met a train officer who had a hand-held mobile translator. Anything I asked him in English was translated into Slavic. It was a slow process but I loved it—I felt I was able to communicate with him. Otherwise I could not find anyone who could speak English, so I just showed my ticket and asked where to go with body language. Finally I found where to go around 11:30 pm. When I walked in the train platform I realized I saw this view in movies a few times but I did not remember which movies. The light was very dim and I took one picture of the Moscow train station. I went to sleep right away when the train start leaving because it was too dark to see outside. When I woke up my train was running through a prairie filled with green vegetation. I found a hot water pot in the train and I thought it would be great to make my own coffee. I brought enough Yirgacheffe. I started the day with great smells in the running train and drinking coffee and watching outside, but then one man surprised me. He was walking in the hall only wearing underwear! Nobody would believe me if I told people back in America so I pulled out my cellphone and took a picture for evidence. After picture was taken still I couldn’t believe what I saw and was more surprised because the people who were standing in the hall didn’t look like it bothered them. But still I did not think I could walk around like this man. 

I ate some fruit, vegetables, and cheese which I had brought to the train. During 7 days of train travel, there were 3 different way to get foods: I could bring them to train; when the train stopped every 5 to 7 hours I could buy them at train station platform from local people; or there was restaurant food in the train which is very expensive, but I ended up once a day eating in the restaurant. It is tough to go to the restaurant: from my car to there I needed to pass 7 cars. In one of the 7 the bedrooms were not blocked so feet were sticking out in the hallway. I needed to duck down to get through and take a picture. A few times I met a group of people speaking English, listening to Russian military music and glorifying Stalin. They were from all over the world, the leaders of the YMCA. When they talked about the war, I asked if I could ask questions. I heard that Russians respected Stalin. How many people had he killed? I ended up receiving a gift from them.

When train stopped in Omsk station for 45 minutes, I decided to go out to find a real meal. I felt I was doing time travel because of the buildings, tram, and ways of dress. Time travel to 1960 in Korea. But I guess it was not really 1960 because I found a Kentucky Fried Chicken. I pointed my finger to what I wanted. While I was eating I thought about how I could find a pharmacy. From the restaurant to the street I asked where I could find a pharmacy. Nobody understood. I looked around to see if anything looked like a pharmacy, and in the meantime I asked a young man selling bread, telling him by moving my body and showing that I am throwing up and looking for moving sickness pill. I got the medicine and went back to the train. 

To be continued…

The beauty of America!

The beauty of America!

Suegee, my daughter, said in her college application essay, “I traveled every corner of this country with family. It is very different from one place to another, but it has its own beauty,each place, and I want to protect this beauty.” She wants to be an environment activist. 

It is true, I took the Hyong family everywhere in USA. The beauty can be in the form, but also, we can cultivate thru interaction and experience. I and my children need a tons of experience and interaction with nature. Usually we were traveling in the mountains during the summer, camping in the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, any national park, state park, or even private sites. Our favorite places were 11 Points River in Missouri during spring break for camping and trout fishing, the Rocky Mountains during the summer, and we usually went to Florida during the winter vacation. Oh my god! Rocky Mountain was a great place to visit for camping,especially setting the tents at 11,000ft on Mount Antero next to Mount Princeton, both over 14,000ft. We usually drive on Chalk Creek Drive between two mountains and get onto the mountain road where only a 4-wheeler can go. Sometimes my first daughter complained about headaches but soon adjusted to the altitude. In the area where we set the tents we saw extremely large spruces. They grow straight up toward the sky. When we walk around between the trees, the ground is very soft because the needles of the spruce trees fell for hundreds of years and fertilized the soil. Smells of spruce were everywhere, and ponderosa, Douglas Fir, and Colorado Blue Spruce too. We would set the tent next to a small creek. The water was crystal clear and we were able to see Cutthroat Trout. We would pick up a dead tree branch and sharpen it up to use as a spear and catch them, but no luck catching the fish. We usually set a tent in the tree area in between the tree line. At 9,000ft there are different trees. I saw so many white birch trees and paper birches and more.

In society, there many things are existing in USA. Not only many different beautiful trees, also people from the world and automobiles. In the 1980's also I thought it was exciting to see many automobiles from all over the world: Japanese, Korean, Germany and American automobiles. Americans love large cars, but my first car was a Japanese car. It was a very small car and I loved it. Then people were driving small cars and they become more popular because of oil shocks during the early 70's whenprices went up from $3.00 per barrel to $12.00, then in the second oil crisis to $39.00 per barrel, and with the financial crisis in the 80's the interest rate was 18%. Regardless, I loved automobiles from many different countries. The oil price goes up meanwhile my motivation goes up to buy different car and enjoy the beauty of design, power and speed.

I also met many beautiful people from the different countries when I started to attend Parkland College for English and mathematics. There were many people from all over the world transferring to other universities after 2 to 3 years. I was organizing a group of people in English class for the international day and parties. It was great place to meet many different people speaks English with different cultures makes lots of mistake and we all laugh about our mistake and correct them. All of them were different each other Like the trees and automobiles. Many of these beautiful people have a dream and wanted to pursue their goal. These were American dreams.

I have realized that it was not only humans that immigrated—also Green immigration stated in the 16th century. Trees, fruits, all types of vegetables moved around from one country to others. America is one country built by immigrant people who made the country stronger than any other country in the world. The first generation worked hard, clashed with the existing culture and melted down. The second generation watched the first generation, how they adjusted themselves into this country,imagined how they were supposed to live and created their life, inventing many things in this country. In this year 2016, six Nobel prizes are American and immigrated people. This is not only country to have people from other country, even the Korea and all countries on the earth has been moving around with belief, economical, political and individual reason.
We were all experienced in 1990's that in America, we knew it I was different life style than in modern, the artist point out that we are out of modern but unknowable where we are heading to. During the this time era, the great thing are happened. The Multiculturalism, which allow us shift our life from the adversarialism to mutuality. It started it from here in America and spreader to Japan, South Korean,in Asia and in the Europe. Also it is no longer the melting pot. It is the salads which allow to have many minorities raise theirs voice which they believe, culture and social taste.
In Rocky Mountain, it is not only White Birch. There are many more trees such as Douglas-Fir, Colorado Blue Spruce, Ponderosa, Willow and White and Paper Birches. We have trees from the all over the world, and automobiles, and even human. That is why we think America is beautiful: because of many different greens, auto, people and cultures.

Recently many of people felt uncomfortable because of leader's comments regarding race(Mexcan, Middle Eastern people), belief system(Muslim) and physical force(pipe line in South Dakota). I believe the people did not know the beauty of America. Also we are living in the democracy country. Demo-cracy means, government by citizen. We exercise power directly or elect representatives. A person who represent the citizen(the president is our SERVANT), who must see the beauty of, otherwise it will be very difficult represent the state. To be a leader I am sure that they need a leadership, intellectual, moral and more. To me, the leader must possess a esthetic eyes.
Native people believed the earth is mother land, yes I believe what they believe, it could be initiated the life by interacting he tween water and lightening on the earth, need to reinterpret the their believe system. They have been in hunting culture longer than many different civilizations. Earth embraced their way of life. They were setting the teepee in between water and trees area. It's not only they did. All civilizations did. All vegetation are near them, hunting, music and dancing are song of earth events. So they think earth, motherland where we live in harmony. Imbalance between them, then our way of living can be in danger. Many countries and scientists already warned the global warming! Also we are not listening to them. Are we really civilized?
We are focusing intellectual development, physical strength and moral. Also, we need to develop our eyes to see the beauty of us and others. The beauty is not only the thing and not only in the form, it must cultivated within individual thru interaction with all kind living thing.

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Kukkiwon 1979 2

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